Asterite's Eye
by IRS
Summary: The Asterite's prespective of events during the first game.
1. Meeting Another

G'day folks! This little story marks my first attempt at crafting a complete tale for the eager masses. As such, comments are craved with a hunger almost as great as that of the Vortex. A little depth to the comment would be nice (How else can I tell what's good and what's not without someone letting me know?), but any comment at all is welcome. And now, without further adu, on with the story!  
  
UPDATED: Got some picky HTML tags to work properly, now the story looks like it ought to. Italics denote internal dialoge, of either introspection or telepathy.  
  


* * *

  
Asterite's Eye  
  
Tedium...  
  
Boredom...  
  
Sameness...  
  
Such had been its existence. From the deep time when it first came to be, very little had changed. Life had shed one guise for another, but it was still the same life. Frantic, darting, always in a great hurry to swim and eat and mate and die- Except for itself. It was different. It knew this difference. It needed not any of the trappings in which all other life found itself, for it was the final distilled essence of the great cycle of life. As it spun, each part underwent the changes, but always ended up back where it started. Or did it? There had been some changes, so small and minor that they were barely noticeable even to its own wondrous senses, that had persisted. The significance of this was unknown, or if it was indeed significant at all- But those were thoughts for another time.  
  
It was weary of the other life around it. That life had no mind, no sense of being beyond a swish of a tail, a pulse of a heart, or the extension of some mandible towards some piece of food. Chaotic, unpredictable, undesirable. Such as one rather persistent thing that was attempting the consume one of its orbs of defense. Annoyed, it activated the orb and sent a mild pulse of electricity outwards. The thing convulsed once, then sped off into the distant water. This was getting to be an all too frequent occurrence.  
  
Activating all its orbs of sensing, it sought a place where it could be isolated from these constant annoyances. They returned the presence of a small cavern not far below the area it was drifting through. Just slightly larger that itself, the carvan seemed ideal for its task. Satisfied, it threaded itself through the small maze of tunnels and took up residence in what would become its long term home. It proved to be a highly effective barrier to the annoying lifeforms, even moreso when a strange crystal appeared at the only entrance. It continued to spin and change in solitude, occasionally extending a part of itself into another form of life to experience what was happening beyond the cavern's confines.  
  
The passage of time was easy to mark, but it had little reason to do so. Every once in a while, the slight change in power told it when the great source of energy was high above, only having a thin layer of air, sea, and rock to pass through. It could also tell how much absolute time had passed, as the surrounding walls emitted a low, slowly decaying energy of their own. Thus it did mark time, every moment of its static existence. Until one moment, when everything changed...  
  
* * *  
  
The silence was broken by a pulse of compression waves that blew apart the crystal at the entrance. Annoyed, it turn its attention towards the thing that entered. The thing sent more, weaker compression waves towards it, and it became intrigued at the complex pattern in the waves. Extending its senses, it analyzed the thing, and made a startling discovery. This thing was unlike any other form of life it had encountered. No gills, a curiously deformed air bladder, a tail turned sideways and while functional, it had a very unusual overall body structure. Now truly engaged, it stimulated additional orbs of sensing to further probe this most unusual form that life had taken.  
  
As for the creature itself, it was just holding there directing more compressed pressure waves towards it. As time passed, the creature began to get agitated. The compression waves became stronger, and the creature came closer. Deciding that this was presenting a problem, since it was having difficulty focusing its senses when the creature was so close, it sent a mild shock outwards to encourage it to move away. However, this unusual form of life had an unusual response. Instead of fleeing, it became even more agitated. It darted around the orbs in fast circles, and the compression waves became disruptive.  
  
Deciding that the information being gathered wasn't worth the disruption, it increased the voltage and sent out another pulse. Things quickly became worse. The creature, now frantic, charged at it and smacked an orb of control with enough force to set up a disruptive resonance. This had gone too far. It sent out powerful charges on a periodic basis to attempt and disrupt the creature's life systems. However, the creature was faster at disrupting its own systems. A second orb of control was knocked out of alignment. Then, in a final intense barrage, the creature disrupted a third orb of control. As the creature delivered the final blow, it unleashed a final desperate attempt to protect itself, linking all its power and defense orbs into one intense burst of raw energy.  
  
The attempt succeeded, but not in the manner in which it had desired. Some unusual latent energy in the creature redirected the massive burst in a way it had never experienced before. For the first time ever, the energy emitted by the walls of the cavern was twisted and distorted, something it had considered beyond possibility. Then, the creature, along with the orb of control it had impacted, vanished in a whirl of water. Once things had stilled, it extended its senses outwards as far as it could, but there was no sign of the creature or its own missing orb.  
  
* * *  
  
It learned to exist without the orb. It was no longer mobile, but that hadn't been a concern for it ever since it found the cavern. It also could no longer project its power beyond the cavern, though it could still sense what was happening. Time progressed as it always had, and for a very long duration existence continued as it always had, just without as much interaction with what was beyond the cavern. This continued for age upon age, as time continued its endless progression. Then it began to sense strange things.  
  
At first, it noticed that there were some creatures that were similar to the one it had encountered so long ago. However, these creatures were cruder, less able to operate in the water. This was counter to what it had expected- as time passed, things became better suited to the place they lived. However, these seemed to be following that rule as well as any other form of life. Oddly enough, it seemed they were changing into the very creature that had caused it such trouble so long ago. It regarded these proceedings with great interest, and kept its senses gathering information constantly, storing everything for future comparison and reference.  
  
Quite suddenly, on the scale of time it was used to, the amount and pattern of energy found on the world it existed on changed radically. Where it had once been a constant low level with no discernible pattering, nearly uniform, it now came from highly concentrated areas and was remarkably well patterned. It studied these energies, and made a discovery so shocking it had to isolate the orb that held the information and re-discover it a second time to confirm it had not been a chance defect in itself. This energy was the result of life, but of a form so bizarre it had never even known that it existed. These life forms existed outside the realm of water. They had mastery of forms of energy that were far beyond even its own impressive ken. And they were as intelligent as itself.  
  
It was that final discovery that had shocked it so. This was unprecedented in all the depths of time that it had existed. It studied the patterns, and discovered that these forms of life communicated among themselves. It longed to join in this discourse, but without the orb of control it could not influence what lay beyond. Thus it waited, and studied, and learned. These bright forms of life extended out, and from what it overheard, it found out secrets about the origins of life, the world it existed in, and even some of the secrets of creation itself. Then it learned a secret that caused it to forever change the way it existed. This secret was the manipulation of energies in a pattern that caused matter to execute a jump between absolute temporal states- as they called it, "Time Travel".  
  
With this new knowledge, it was finally able to understand what had happened so long ago, when the creature had taken away its orb. The creature had been so unusual because it was foreign to that time- it had come from the future, likely this very era, as the ancient recordings of the energies in the creature's body had confirmed. They were the signature of matter that had been ripped from its proper time. However, it still did not understand it all. Thus, it continued to sense and analyze. Then something terrible happened...  
  
One day, as the forms of life had named their basic time cycle, it picked up a surge of communication. Overlapping frequencies, maximum power, some completely undirected. The only common factor was that all were confused, and scared. And then they began to vanish. It regarded this with alarm, since anything that could threaten beings as these would surely pose a threat to itself. But the beings were not about to let the fear overcome them. A network was set up, supposedly secret to all, that joined the greatest minds among them into one giant intelligence to counter the menace. It looked on with envy at the being of beings, a form of life that was beyond life, just as it itself was. This mighty being discovered the cause of the disruption, and the answer was grave indeed.  
  
A distant planet was the source, and it was harvesting the life from this world and destroying the creations of the beings above. The great linked mind came up with frightening things to counter the threat, that both reached across the depths of space to strike at the enemy, and establish barriers against the enemy's attacks. However, it was all too little, too late. The enemy smashed through the defenses and devastated the final refuge of the bright beings that had once been spread across the world. In a final pair of acts, final defiances of the flow of time that erases everything in its path, the beings fled through time and space to places unknown and left behind a legacy of information for any others that came after. Thus did the great city of Atlantis perish at the hands of the Vortex, and thus the final great gift to the planet from the Atlantians came to be, the remnants of their great information network, the Glyphs...  
  
* * *  
  
Time passed again, though this time it could see an end approaching. Every 500 years, the Vortex harvested biomatter from a section of the world. While life was persistent, even life could not sustain when the basic elements were taken away. It searched for a way, any way, to stave off the Vortex. Eventually, it came up with a plan, desperate and unlikely, but without its missing orb it couldn't even put it in motion. Then, the final pieces of its oldest puzzle slid into place.  
  
It examined the creatures that had formed themselves from the pressures of survival into the form that had so long ago denied it part of itself. The match was good enough that the very being that could have encountered it so long ago could now exist. It kept the majority of its senses trained on the ruins of Atlantis, to see when one would journey into the great machine that could break the bonds of time. However, none came to that place where intelligence once shined so brightly. However, it noticed something unusual. The compressed pressure waves employed by the creatures were forming patterns similar to the ones used by the old Atlantians. However, these were so relatively slow and low powered that it had discounted them until this time. Upon closer examination, it once again found that intelligence had emerged and taken a form it hadn't predicted. However, this form was in the ocean like itself, and the intelligence was moving in a different direction from the prior one- this intelligence was epanding its perceptions of existence, while the prior one had just expanded its understanding of existence. It unraveled their language and finally understood what had been said on that day so very long ago, and it knew what must be done...  
  
The creature had been named Ecco. Ecco had tried to communicate with it, but it had not understood back then. However, now it could recall the entire conversation as if it had just occurred...  
  
_"Hello, hello! I am Ecco. I have come as you requested me to from the far current of time. Where is the orb that you lack? Hello? Do you not sing? Why, why? Please, you must help me! Why do you remain silent? Hello? KEE! Why do you sting?! I came as you asked! Why?! WHY! KEEEE! Is your mind lost to the depths? KEEEEE! I cannot go without knowing! I will fight you if I must!"_  
  
Then there was the fight, and the temporal explosion that concluded it. It knew what it had done- nay, what it was going to do. The burden of knowing the future was terrible, for it could do nothing to prevent these circumstances from occurring. Indeed, such interference may cause it extreme harm, as it now knew how intertwined with the fabric of time it was. From time to time these beings, which called themselves singers, would come to it and try to communicate. It knew that they sensed its own massive intellect, but it had to remain silent. Finally, on one day that would be recorded in the great song of history, a young, determined, frightened, awed, and above all else, _familiar_ singer entered its cavern.  
  
* * *  
  
It waited, for the first time ever concerned with the very seconds that passed. It was feeling things it had never felt before, its own well-planned speech suddenly became inaccessible, the spin was disrupted ever so slightly. As it turned out, it did not need to act first, for it- no, Ecco -made the first contact.  
  
"Are you the Asterite? I have swum far, and hear that you may be able to help me save my pod. Will you sing to me?"  
  
It stuttered. An orb of sensing warned that time was becoming disjointed, it had to act now. Otherwise, it would scummb to a paradox. It coordinated its remaining orbs of control as best it could, and began to communicate for the first time ever...  
  
"I remember you..."  
  
"Of course it was you..."  
  
"And it was I that had sent you..."  
  
The misaligned orbs of knowledge snapped back into place, just in time too. It had nearly revealed that which it should not. For a fraction of a second, it pondered the implications of wanting to communicate for years upon years, then nearly ruining its first attempt. It was all so unusual. But it pressed on, its carefully thought out plan once again in control.  
  
"Now it is clear. I can help you by giving you powers and knowledge, but you must help me regain my full strength. You must travel into the past! To the west there is a sunken city called Atlantis. Its people built a machine and used it to travel in time. Use the machine to travel to the distant past before your kind existed. You will go back 55 million years. There you will find my missing orb. You must return it to me. Only then can I give you what you need to save your pod."  
  
It stopped, having said what must be said. Ecco thanked it rather profusely. It knew that had Ecco known of what it had done, it would have been in serious danger of being removed from existence. It could apologize afterward, as the creatures of Atlantis and the many other places they once resided said, it was easier to seek forgiveness than permission. Especially when your own existence rested on the careful manipulation of knowledge. Ecco left the carvan, leaving it to its thoughts once more.  
  
It felt it happen. Even had its orbs not been attuned to the working of the city, the sudden spike of energy was hardly unnoticeable. The time machine had been activated, and though the shakings of it were felt even where it resided, it did not fail. The energies focuses, converged, and tore a passage from what is to what was. And then they slowed down, and stopped, silent once more aside from the low energies of the few remaining security mechanisms. It continued to ponder what would happen, when or even if it would ever receive its missing orb, for quite some time...  
  
* * *  
  
A spike! Power! Energy wild yet controlled, random yet focused. When it calmed, it could feel its orb, missing for so long, far above, in the spot it had resided at in ages past. It followed its progression downwards, until it was finally in the same chamber as the rest of itself. The orb was pulled into its matrix, assuming the position too long vacant. Its great power, long held back, was free to be used as it saw fit once more. And it had a promise, the first it had ever had the chance to make, driving it to action. There was no need to hold back, save to provide the knowledge that Ecco would require.  
  
"Now I am whole again with all my power. Thank you Ecco! Now I will help you. I will give you new powers."  
  
And having said as much, it projected itself into Ecco. The experience was so totally unlike anything it had felt before. Unlike the earlier creatures, that had no mind to seek, to know, to perceive that which they could not. Its own energy was amplified several magnitudes over. The very substance that kept life alive energized itself in ways it had not thought possible. Will became energy, sustaining functions when matter failed. The steady downward progression of order was brilliantly reversed. Time now acted to restore and re-energize, not decay and dissipate. Its once farfetched and unlikely plan now had a reasonable chance of success. It knew that this chance must not be wasted.  
  
"Use the Atlantean time machine to swim back in time to the hour of the storm. You will be taken with your pod. You will see the unseen enemy. Use this song to return to your home bay just before the storm. With your new powers perhaps you will save your pod."  
  
It had given the instructions once again required of it. However, something nagged at it. A possibility of paradox. It imparted a final instruction to Ecco through the link, shortly before the time machine was activated again. A warning, to not interfere or even appear to himself in the past. It did not expect the reply.  
  
_"I know. If I interfere with myself, the consequences could be dire. If I succeed, or rather, have succeeded, even now my pod swims safely in the home I know so well. You gave me far more knowledge than I suspect you intended. Now farewell, for the whirlpool of time is ready. I shall see you again, if and when I succeed."_  
  
Before it could compose a response for this most unexpected yet surprisingly satisfactory event, Ecco was gone.  
  
_"And I did succeed."_  
  
Ecco was back. Mere moments after he departed, he had returned. It suspected that Ecco had been waiting for the right time to reveal that he did, in fact, exist twice over this span of time. It felt the energies had been worked greatly, and upon drawing back its power, it knew all that had transpired. The long tube, through which the Vortex brought its prey from countless worlds. The mighty machine, dealing out death to that which should have lived to sustain those that should have died. And the final wretchedness at the center, bent into a thing that could only hunger to sustain itself, as the expense of all else. And it saw these things torn apart, ripped asunder, wiped from existence and placed in the final depths from which nothing should emerge. At long last, the legacy of the Atlanteans had finally defeated the Vortex, and the world was safe to recover.  
  
It was finally whole again, as well. Time was no longer looped, the echoes of possibility were stilling. It had all of its orbs, and could once again act at will. However, there were still some things that troubled it. The echoes of possibility still reverberated, very low, but still there. Time was not yet safe. It was not yet safe. It would require help. And the logical source of that help was floating gently in the water beside it. Ecco had proven himself to be strong, understanding, and capable in a task of importance to all that existed. Through the link, it had come to know many things about existence from Ecco's perspective, and Ecco in turn had learned much from its own vast stores. They each had contributed greatly to the world they shared. What was the term Atlanteans used for one such as this? Ally? No, that did not quite fit, it was deficient in some ways. It searched deeper, and came to the perfect word, the exact concept.  
  
"I have much more to tell you, we are not yet done. Now, friend Ecco, let us talk of many things..."  
  
-FINIS-  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Well, that's my tale. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I certainly had fun writing it. Just a few quick notes on various items I presented. First, the Asterite's sense of time. It certainly wouldn't be able to mark time in seconds or hours, as those concepts are rather recent human units of measurement. However, the day/night cycle has always existed as long as we've had a planet, and the decay of radioactive isotopes is such an effective and constant measuring tool we use atomic clocks to track time when we need the most accurate measurements possible. I decided to give the Asterite the same abilities, though its clock was the constant low levels of those elements found everywhere, including the rock walls that contained it. As for the Atlanteans, I'm in complete speculation about what they did aside from the few clues dropped. All we know is that they were a highly advanced technological society, that while advanced, wasn't advanced quite enough to deal with the Vortex. I also added little snippets of conversation here and there- Ecco never 'says' anything, he just makes those sonic pulses. Vague, but great for weaving a story ;) Once again, post those comments, we budding writers shrivel up and die if you don't feed us! I now leave you with a most wretched pun: NANANANAnanananaNANANANA (Batman!) If you get it, welcome to geekdom.  



	2. Tides of Time

Well, it's been a while. My worst fears came true, and I became a Respectable Member of Society™. Ho hum, such is how things go. Anyway, after some gentle prodding (You can put the hot poker down now), I've decided to extend this work into the second game. Let's mosey. (I said you could put it down, darnit! Stop jabbing me!)

* * *

Interest.  
  
Experience.  
  
Dynamic.  
  
Such was its existance now. Ever since the Vortex fell and the bindings of time were shattered, it was at last able to converse and interact with the other intelligences on the world it dwelled upon. Interact it did. At first, it had just been Ecco. Then a few of his pod made the journey, hazardous as it was, just to meet it and hear it. They told everyone along the way, who told others, who told still more, and so on, until it found its little cavern packed almost wall to wall with those who wanted to hear it, feel it, see it, _talk_ to it. It was overcome with sensation, and tried to answer every question, return every greeting, and listen to every story. Indeed, so many were coming that it relocated to more accessible surroundings, and empowered another old atlantian creation to speed travel through the seas, though few had the skill to utilize it completely. So content and bedazzled was it, that it didn't notice when a far northern sea experienced a brief spike of energy before it was dampened.  
  
However, such newness and popularity does wear off. The visitors came less frequently, the stories were all eventually told, and while things did settle down, it was not disappointed. It knew the patience of the ages, so a visitor every few days was still a vast improvement over what it had once dealt with. And not all would leave it. A few of the Singers would stay, and formed a pod for the express purpose of defending it. It was obstinally for its protection, but it was far beyond everything the world had to meance it with. It humored them anyway, and came to know them all as they went through the motions of 'protecting' it. By sound, by sight, by pattern of thought, it knew them all. It appriciated them more for the good discourse they provided than their effort to preserve it from the Hungry Ones. Kitak, Siren, Yellowtail... It knew their names well. However, none would ever reach the same level as one- Ecco. They kept up communication through the link they shared. They 'talked', as it were, on things of great import and none, about what may have happened to the Atlantians and what sort of fish was the best tasting. It was good.  
  
Until another day of fate arrived.  
  


§ § §  


  
It knew that something was not right. Everything seemed to be 'thicker' than it should be, as if there were two of everything occuping the same spaces save itself. It used its link with Ecco to communicate this unease, and the reply did nothing to assuage its troubles. Ecco reported that he had run into a mirror of himself while on a regular patrol of his home waters. The mirror did nothing, save block his way until he asked who it was. Then it was gone. Using its orbs of sensing, it reached out and examined Ecco, to find him to be the only other thing without the 'thickness' that seemed to prevade everything. It called for Ecco to hurry back, so it might be able to better focus and determine just what the change was. It settled back, and began its investigations with a handy outcropping of rock, being a fairly simple item to examine. It was still examining and analyzing the change when a sudden shaking began. Rapidly realigning its orbs of sensing, it tried to determine the cause, and found it- something was boring through the upper layers of its cavern, but the something was difficult to identify. Almost as if its senses were being... blocked.  
  
Blocked? Nothing could block it. Its range extended all over the world and beyond, as far as the great mass that created the tides. If something had evolved to block it, it would have noticed the gradual difficulties in sensing whatever creature would have done it. An orb of knowledge shunted a possible solution, and it called to its pod of protectors to investigate, but things grew worse. It couldn't contact them. It couldn't locate them. It couldn't locate anything alive at all. Then the fragments coalesced into a whole, a theory, that explained all the happenings of the past few moments of crisis.  
  
It did not want to accept the theory. The evidence was there.  
  
It did not like the implications. The future was not written by it.  
  
It felt _afraid_. There was just cause.  
  
It practically screamed for Ecco to hurry, but time was not with it. The ceiling gave way. Rocks fell, gravity taking its natural course. It activated all its orbs of power and defense, the massive energies preparing to be utilized. A massive shape dropped in, and it let loose a shockwave that caused the ocean itself to heave and shake. However, the target was unaffected. It did cause the block on its senses to drop, and it was at last able to directly scan the intruder.  
  
Aquatic. Massive crainium. Multiple tentacles, large jaws. Refined metal armor plating. Intricate components, Atlantian-comparable power sources. Hunger. Massive, all consuming hunger.  
  
"_The Vortex!_" it thought, as the first harmonic energy waves impacted, fragmenting its senses, disrupting its power, dulling its intellect, disappating its defense. Then it all came unhinged, and there was an abscence of everything.  
  


§ § §  


  
"So dark..."  
  
"What is darkness?"  
  
"What is?"  
  
A sound.  
  
"What is sound?"  
  
_"I'll help you..."_  
  
"What is help?"  
  
_"You can't die..."_  
  
"What is death?"  
  
_"I'll heal you..."_  
  
"What is healing?"  
  
_"Can you hear my song?"_  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
_"You still live!"_  
  
"Who am I?"  
  
_"Come back to me old friend!"_  
  
"Why?"  
  
_"We need you!"_  
  
"Why?"  
  
"To sing, to learn, to teach, **to exist**!"  
  


§ § §  


  
It snapped back. Ecco was there, guiding the last of its orbs back into place. It had been shattered, scattered, consigned as destroyed. But it had not been destroyed. It had been painstakingly reassembled, all its orbs collected from the many regions it had been cast into by the Vortex. Various fragments of itself had tried to assist, but Ecco had clearly done an enourmous labor. Looking closer, it saw that it had left many marks upon him. Jagged scars, broken bones, several varieties of poisonous chemicals had all taken a toll. It reestablished the link, once again projecting itself into Ecco, and saw. One future, bright, filled with wonder. One future, dark, filled with nightmares. The stream of time was split, a paradox had been made. Being almost beyond time, it was able to bridge the gap between the futures and see both timestreams, the cause of the 'thickness' it had precieved. But there was still one thing unknown.  
  
"_Why did you go to such lengths, even without my power? Was it to survive? You could have simply hid away._"  
  
"_I could not... My friend needed me._"  
  
Something flared up within it. This was totally new to it. All life it had encountered sought to simply survive. It had thought that single drive to be the cause of all actions taken. Some would grasp the larger picture, and know that the survival of a group was best insured by self-sacrifice. But this was different. Something done without a single bit of motivation for survival. Something that _overrid_ the motivation for survival. It could tell, with the direct mind link. Suddenly, entire archives of information poured forth from the orbs of knowledge. New patterns realized, old assumptions exposed and crumbled. New ways of thinking emerged, that when followed led to new conclusions. It knew so much more now. Thousands upon thousands of stored messages from the times of the Atlantians. The multitudes of songs of Singers. It ran through them all, and it _knew_.  
  
Friendship. Family. Love.  
  
What may have once been merely constructs for survival had grown and changed into something far more than their beginnings. It finally understood a key aspect of interaction with other intelligences. A clue to the great secrets of existance- not the what, the how, the when, the where, but the why. And with understanding, came power. It flung its senses outward. The Vortex were expanding. It could track them without effort now, blocking or not. It could feel the will of the Singers, as they fought back across the planet, with cunning, with knowledge of their world, and with their hearts. It was futile- they knew they were losing, that none would survive the building storm. But still they fought on, because they could not regress and do nothing. And now, neither could it. The Atlantians had started the defence. The Singers continued it. And now, it would join in.  
  
Atlantians, Singers, itself... Through time, through space, common threads of understanding linked them together. It tapped into that web, channeled the powers, and sang with every voice of the family it just discovered it had. What it said was expressed in a way unique to all that heard it, but was elegant in simplicity. It carried a promise of change, a call to action, a single word to link and empower them all. It channeled more power than it ever had with that one word, into every Singer that existed.  
  
"Now."  
  


§ § §  


  
It was amazed. The power being generated was beyond all it had thought possible. It couldn't move for fear of some disruption causing a catastrophic leak. It felt fear again, this time at itself. However, it was not alone. Ecco was with it, as were the remainder of its pod of protectors. They circled it, using their own fragments of the generated power to help smooth the dangerous flucuations in itself. The pod fell into a dreaming circle, devoting their minds to help control its energies. Ecco did not join them, and it knew why- he had other matters to attend to.  
  
_"I must go, old friend, to confront the Vortex at their core. Do not concern yourself with when might happen or what has happened. Just exist for now, we will do the rest."_  
  
And exist it did. With the aid of the protector pod, it had regained a tight grip on the energy being generated and channeled, enough so that it could take another look at how the world was faring. Incredible did not do it justice. The Singers had adapted to the new energy provided to them, and were using it to great effect. Looking through one set of eyes, it saw a Vortex group crushed as three pods attacked from as many directions, sonic shockwaves battering the Vortex senseless. Through another set, it saw a lone Vortex smashed to pulp by an Orca with a might tail slap. Through yet another set, it saw a great whale pod swimming towards the Vortex nest, their massive shockwaves simply crushing anything in their way though raw power. Then it noticed that there were patterened sub-harmonics in the energy it was channeling, and upon examination saw that the very thoughts of the Singers were being sent back and forth. It was not on the same level of the communication it shared with Ecco, but it was effective. They coordinated and planned without noticing they were doing so, and it watched, orbs of knowledge recording at a frantic pace. By the time the world completed a rotation, the Vortex had been all but wiped from the world beyond their core. Now there was an impass. The Vortex had been mostly without their technology, but the defenses of their core were enough to resist the power that had worked thus far. The many hundreds of thousands of Singers that had gathered outside the bay the Vortex had claimed as their own could not exert their numbers with such a restricted access, nor could the Vortex come out without being crushed.  
  
As it jumped its preception from one Singer to the next, it caught sight of one pod far different from the others. It was not composed of all the same types, as most were. Instead, it was a grouping of quite a few different types, some of which looked oddly familiar. Shifting prespective again, it was not surprised to find Ecco at the heart of it, but was surprised at the exact identities that composed it. Each was a minor legend. Big Gray, the great Singer that had come dangerously close to exposing it before the time was right, and brother of Big Blue. The Stone Guards, a pair that dwelled in the most hazardous of regions. Ventdancer, who made a game of the rising waters that would entrap the unwary. Starchaser, who feared nothing in any sea, having been to them all. The names went on. As it examined them, the group turned and made for the bay entrance.  
  
It came to be called Lunar Bay, for the moon that rose high and large over the fight below.  
  


§ § §  


  
It knew so many emotions now. Love, Anger, Happiness... And now Sadness. Things had gone awry on what should have been a simple task, and had taken away Ecco to times and places unknown. At least the treacherous Vortex responsible had been cast into a place where it could do no harm, as it found after careful examination of its own memories. The time machine was now destroyed, no further changes could take place by that route. There was nothing more for it to do. It considered withdrawing again, without Ecco the world beyond its old cave seemed unappealing. Its pod of protectors had other ideas.  
  
"Don't go!"  
  
"Stay with us!"  
  
"We're your friends!"  
  
The pleading might as well have been to the sea bottom for all the good it did. It wanted to distance itself from them, for their own good. If any Vortex still lived, they too would come hunting for it, and it did not want them to be injured. It let loose a bellow to clear out and leave it be, but they simply wouldn't go away. Indeed, yet another one came in. Such foolishness. The others quieted themselves and made way for the newcomer. It directed an Orb of Sensing to the newcomer, and found nothing of note- until a Orb of Knowledge routed a memory of an old conversation with Ecco, and an image along with it. One line was all that was important.  
  
_"I think I'm in love with her, and she with me."_  
  
Its sadness redoubled. What could it possibly say? All responses seemed inadquate. It had been responsible, it had failed. As things turned out, it didn't need to respond at all.  
  
"Moping around like a half-eaten jellyfish, eh? From what Ecco sang me, I thought you to be above that."  
  
"I-"  
  
"Don't say it. You are mighty, but not all-powerful. The unexpected happens to us all, taking away those we care for, and after the storm, what do we do?"  
  
She turned to leave, her final line bouncing off the walls.  
  
"We go on living. The pain only reminds us to enjoy our time together, be it long or short."  
  
It was such a simple answer, but the wisdom behind it was so deep that it provided for many stimulating conversations over the years.  
  


§ § §  


  
It spun serenely. The gentle currents in its chamber made the few plants that grew sway to and fro. Outside that chamber, the world had changed. A great deal of time had passed. It had changed too. The power it weilded dwarfed its old standards. The Singers still sung, though now their songs could be heard all over the world, even to the edges of space for the bolder ones. It estimated it would not be much longer before they changed into a form that would let them move into that vast region and seek its depths- and whatever laid there. But, they were ready to confront that unknown. Their minds were keen, inquisitive, ever curious about all things great and small. It had even developed into a sort of mental thumb, allowing them to impart kinetic energy with sheer power of thought. Telekenisis, as the Atlantians had called such powers.  
  
Its own changes were nearly as dramatic. It no longer had individual orbs for basic functions- any orb could fulfill any need, and all new abilities came to it. It knew how it had come to be, though that mattered little due to present circumstances, and it could exert near complete control over time. It was effectively invincible now, since it could simply send any threat to the deep time and could warn itself in advance. It kept a small time rift open along its length allowing for the Guardian Pod to do what was needed when it was needed. However, it knew that the days of time travel were numbered. Soon, the final paradox would pass, and their world would finally re-sync with the rest of the universe. Indeed, that final paradox was about to enter...  
  
A Singer much different than all others entered. Smaller, without telekenisis, no Helium sacs to aid in flight, fins too short to deal with air effectively, it was a physical specimine that was in nearly every regard inferior to the predominant forms. However, it knew that there was much more to existance than mere physical attributes. There was also the power of an intelligent will, and this one possessed such power as to bend reality. This would be a threat to it in even its current neigh-omnipotent state, but it was perfectly calm. The creature would not harm it. They were old friends, after all.  
  
It said what had to be said, communicated what needed to be known, as demanded by time, and sent it back to finish the paradox. All things were now resolved. The old one swam down the spiral, as it sought to record every moment of their brief time together. It held no expectations of ever meeting with him again, so it took great pains to carve the memory into itself, something it had not had the chance to do at their other final parting. As the old one entered the final stage of the time rift, it sent one last message, something it had waited millions of years to say.  
  
"_Goodbye, Ecco._"  
  
And Ecco was gone. The time rift, no longer needed or desired, closed. It felt deep sadness, but there was also pride at having the good fortune to have met such a being. It realized that now there was nothing more for it to do- time was resolved and safe, and its family of Singers had grown so much that they had been able to instigate some of the changes that brought it to its current form. However, it was not alone with its thoughts for long. The Guardian leader, Trellia, entered after only a few moments.  
  
"What was that all about? Send me back to pick up some ancient one, then turn around and send him right back? That seems like a waste of effort."  
  
"No... It was absolution. The end of the final paradox. The universe is opening to us now, the twin streams of time are at last one again."  
  
"Such grand words. Who was that, who had so much impact upon us as to split time? I have his name, but nothing more."  
  
It felt amused. _Hasn't heard the legend? Or prehaps the name change over the ages... Eck'toe and Ecco aren't that similar after all..._  
  
"Well then old friend, I will have to tell you a story."  
  
"A story?"  
  
"About an even older friend of mine... When to begin..."  
  
And thus it passed its first evening without a written future, telling one good friend about another good friend, until the sun set and the stars came out, shining with a fierce brilliance. As the tale continued, five of them, far from their old places yet still linked by spirit, twinkled as one in the darkness.  
  
-FINIS-

* * *

Well, not bad I'd say. It's a bit looser since the dialoge from Ecco II seems to have gotten itself lost in my system. Maybe it fell into the IDPFFZOE «winkwinknudgenudge» (Yeah, you know who you are. All of you. And now you know I'm me. Cool, ain't it?). I need to get my email back into shape... About the only thing that's remained constant in all these years is that I'm still bloody difficult to get a hold of. Well, just have to wait and see. I've got other projects sitting around in various stages of incompletion.  
  
And now that the nonsensical obligatory author ranting is finished, drop a review. I hunger for your tax dollars, er, opinions.  



End file.
